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Monday, 19 August 2013

Bloke - A Shelta'd Man

BLOKE

Noun. Colloquial. Mid-19th century.

[Shelta.]

A man, a fellow.

Also: blokey, blokeishadjective M20

Bloke is a refreshingly neutral word, and really gives no indication of a man's age, background, status or demeanour. "He's a funny old bloke, isn't he?" sits just as well as "I got jumped by a couple of drunk blokes in town last night." Most references suggest that this is a chiefly British colloquialism, though it is used in other parts of the world too, including Australia (perhaps with more emphasis on a bloke's masculinity there). What's particularly interesting about bloke, however, is its origin, which the OED unequivocally gives as Shelta, the ancient secret language of Irish Travellers. In tracing bloke back through its Traveller roots, its ultimate origin may be the Celtic ploc, meaning a stubborn person, or even Romany or Hindi loke, meaning a man. Despite its modern Britishness, therefore, bloke seems to be a rather well-travelled chap indeed.

Good morning Jingles : o ) Travellers in Ireland are called various names by the general population, including tinkers and knackers, both of which refer to trades originally associated with them (tinker to tinsmithing, and knacker to a knacker's yard, a place where old animals were sent to be rendered). Both words are considered offensive here, however, and would generally be used in a highly pejorative sense. The word Traveller is most often used, including when Travellers refer to themselves, and there are some older names as well, such as Pavee.

I find most people are generally really nice. But then I'm one of those people who thinks being stern is part of being professional, so I'm not offended by it. A lot of people think being stern is being mean, I've come to realise throughout the years.

Thanks, Nick - I enjoyed that. And I wouldn't have got the bloke joke! I don't think I realised how British 'bloke' seems to be until every dictionary I checked had 'Chiefly British' marked against it.